Friday, August 29, 2008

In a clumsy play for the still simmering Hillary voters seventy two year old John McCain chose Alaska's forty four year old Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate today.The pretty and principled Palin is a preposterous pick.Don't get me wrong. I am a big Palin fan. Here in Kodiak she enjoyed early strong support during her unlikely run to unseat Frank "the Bank" Murkowski. She stood up for fishermen when the federal government tried to privatize Alaska's codfish. She stood up for Alaskans when oil companies tried to bribe and cajole the state into an unfair tax rate. But oil and fish corruption pretty much cover her areas of expertise, and she's still learning about them. The fact is Sarah Palin might well be VP material. In about fifteen years. The Governor of Alaska can afford to paint in broad strokes. Alaska's issues tend to be big and wide, like the state. Even so, Governor Palin has made some expected rookie missteps: the firing of our top cop amidst a scandal surrounding a rogue state trooper who Palin's ex-brother-in-law is the latest. Sarah is still learning her chops. She is the former mayor of Wasilla, an entirely pleasant patch of near wilderness between Anchorage and Fairbanks. She walked out of the woods to become governor. Alaskans are happy that an outsider with very few connections and little experience is shaking up what had been a corruption encrusted state government.But we are talking about someone who could be leader of the free world in the matter of an instant. The idea of our Sarah being suddenly thrown into a position that one rookie error could result in worldwide catastrophe is alarming indeed. McCain's campaign is centered on Obama's supposed lack of experience. But Obama is Churchill compared to Palin.Because Sarah is not just voter provoking arm candy for McCain. She will be his replacement should that senior statesman fall to one of the many perils of his presidency. It is chilling to imagine the vacuum in the room as President Palin ponders her options to back down Russia or Iran.Senator McCain has again shown he no longer possesses the judgement to be president.http://rossdouthat.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/has_mccain_ruined_palin.phphttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a1uiw5Tqp4EM&refer=home

I think it is good to underestimate her so she will surprise us in the end... which is what I think will happen, in a positive way. She stayed strong w/ us and made fantastic decisions. Sure it will be on a much much larger scale then rural Alaska, but that's why she is VP and not president. I am rooting for her. ~KM from Kenai

I do not care if she ends up in the oval office or not. There are enough checks and balances to keep her in her place if needed. I also do not want her back in Juneau. Not because she wasn't doing a good job, but because she has proven to this blogger that Alaska is not her political priority, as it should be. So Sarah, step down and focus on your new campaign, that will allow us to start shopping around for leadership that will stick by us. PeaceGriff

I think Sarah needs to stay here and work on some of the projects she started addressing She and McCain don't seem to agree on some big issues, so their campaign is bound to be rocky. I have appreciated her willingness to dig into the hard stuff here. There is no way she is ready to take on the high-stakes international issues. We need to keep the conversations going here that are necessary for economic stability and balancing development and environmental protections. What works in Alaska won't necessarily work at all on a broader scale with the diverse population she will be accountable to. I think Sarah has more homework to do before she could be ready--you can't just cram for this job.

Constitutional checks and balances were aggressively removed by the present administration. The Presidency is "more equal" than Congress and the courts now, another reason to elect Obama and Biden. Obama is an expert in Constitutional law and Biden a long time Senator. They are far more likely to restore balance.Terry

Hello Terry,You're still trying to blame everything wrong in the country on one man. If you look at the last 50years of history, you'll notice the judicial system is now the strongest of the three branches of government. And Congress does nothing to curtail an arrogant judiciary. As for your sighting experiences a reason to vote for Obama and Biden... give me a break experience is what got you Don Young and Ted Stevens. He can't talk out of both sides your mouth that remain credible. If you're not on the pork train quit voting for experience. This kind of rhetoric has all of the effect that swearing that they fisheries Council has. I hope that yourself and all of Kodiak's crew members and captains find the time to represent themselves at the October meeting! Best wishes regardless of your historically shortsighted opinion.cacrab